Year C, Lent 1 Luke 4:1-13
My
son was in a Christian school for a few years and he would come home and tell
me about the Bible stories that he really loved. The school often used a show called Suberbook
to reinforce the Bible teachings. One
day he came home and told me that his new favorite Bible story was Job. This surprised me because Job is 42 chapters
of suffering and people arguing about why God is allowing the suffering.
This same winged creature returns in many different
stories and the next place I saw it (we began to watch many of the shows) was
the story we heard today, the story of Jesus in desert. For many years we have spoken of the
temptation in the desert and even the text that we read today used the word
temptation. However, many scholars today
are saying that the better word is test.
Jesus wasn’t being tempted as much as he was being tested. The difference
is subtle, but it’s important.
Right
before Jesus was led into the desert, he was baptized by John. A voice came out of heaven and said, “You are
my son, the beloved…” Right after that,
there is a little digression and the chapter ends with the genealogy of Jesus.
The genealogy starts with Joseph and includes, King David, Abraham and ends
with Adam…the first human. What was the
point of this digression? Well there are
several reasons for it, but the one that I find most relevant for today is that
it showed that Jesus was not only the son of God, he was the son of man. He was
both human and divine.
A lot
of people look at this story of Jesus in the wilderness and conclude that it
provides some sort of model for how we are to avoid temptations, perhaps by
quoting scripture as Jesus did. While it’s true that Jesus is meant to be an
example for Christians, I am not sure that is the best takeaway from this story. Consider the first test. The devil asked that Jesus command rocks to
become bread. Here is a good example of why temptation is
not the right word. If the devil was tempting Jesus, he would have handed him a
loaf of warm bread and encouraged him to eat it. But that’s not what the devil did, he asked
him to perform a magic trick in order to satiate his hunger. Jesus refused and
told the devil that life is more than your temporal needs. It also teaches us
that Jesus would never perform a miracle just to prove a point or satisfy his
own needs.
The
next test was an offer to give Jesus power and glory over all the kingdoms of
the earth if only he worship the devil.
This one is a real head scratcher because Jesus is God and already has
more power than anyone else, so this seems like a easy test. Of course he wouldn’t worship anyone other
than God. The 3rd test is a little more complicated. It takes place on the pinnacle of the temple,
which is an important place in the Gospel of Luke. The temple is the center of religious life,
it’s where God is most present. The devil asks Jesus to throw himself down from
the temple because the angels will save him.
Being the Son of God, means that God will protect him. Not even a stubbed toe.
This one is the most obvious test (as opposed to
temptation). Jesus is being asked to prove that he in invulnerable. Nothing can
hurt him because God won’t allow it. As
the reader (even though I know the end of the story) this is the test that I
most desperately want to chime in on.
Jesus could prove his power, in front of not only the symbol of all
evil, but every person near the temple.
This would have guaranteed that people would have gotten on board with
his divinity. This would have been the most effective marketing campaign to
prove Jesus was the son of God. Once again, he refused to take the easy way
out.
These tests weren’t really tests of Jesus’ power. They were tests of his identity. What kind of Messiah would he be? Would he
win people over with displays of power and might from on high? Would he make
deals with the devil? Would he take the easy way out? No. Again and again, he
said no. Not only was he the Son of God, he was the Son of Man and he would
prove that over and over again. In doing
so, he identified himself with humanity.
Humans don’t have infinite power.
We can’t create bread when we are hungry. When we fall, we get
hurt. He accepted the very same
vulnerability that we all share. He
proved what kind of Messiah he would be.
The last line of our Gospel text is a little
anticlimactic. It says, “When the devil had finished
every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.” Now, if I got to choose how this ended, it
would have ended something like this: “Jesus passed all the tests and the devil
left him never to return again. Evil was conquered.” Alas, no one has asked me
for my edits on the Bible because I have a few.
What Luke is telling us is that the test wasn’t over for Jesus, or for
his disciples. He continued to be tested for the rest of his earthly life. He was continually tested on what kind of
Messiah he would be. He always chose the
path of the messiah who identified with the vulnerable and the weak. He chose
humanity every time.
As Christians, we are continually tested
as well. The test we face daily is how we will live our identity as followers
of Jesus Christ. Do we take the path of least resistance and easy answers? Do
we align ourselves with the powerful and mighty or with the vulnerable and
scared?
Because here’s the thing, evil hasn’t
given up. Evil is all too present and
when it goes unchallenged, it grows and we confuse it with success or
might…sometimes even faith. That’s why
it helps to affirm our identity as followers of Christ every day. You don’t have to say it out loud, but make
sure you hold on to that affirmation as tightly as possible. That’s where we
find courage. That is where we find power. That is where we find mercy and
grace.
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